Seeing that we're coming up on the time of year where Business Plans are made with abandon, I have a challenge to pose to all the managing brokers out there! Well, maybe “challenge” isn’t quite the right word; how about “proposal?”

First, a question:

In your office or company, are your agents recognized and rewarded for GETTING listings…or for SELLING listings? Because unless you’re in a crazy seller’s market (which some of you are), there IS a difference – a big difference!

I remember back in my early days, the Coldwell Banker franchise I was with rewarded agents who got at least one new listing and put at least one buyer under contract every single month. So, being the plaque-on-the-wall ego fanatic I was, I went out and got myself one new listing and one buyer under contract every single month in 1997. Interestingly, it didn’t matter if the listing ever sold; in order to get the award, all I had to do was turn in a signed listing agreement every month and I got my credit.

I probably still have that plaque somewhere, lol.

So, it’s no secret that folks tend to do what they are rewarded for (gee, that’s deep, Jennifer), so what if…

…Instead of rewarding agents for GETTING listings (regardless of whether or not they ever sell), howzabout rewarding them for SELLING the listings they GET?

What if, in your office, you gave a Very Special Outrageously Prestigious Award at the end of the year for, let's say, the five agents who have the highest Listed-to-Sold ratio (with some reasonable minimum number of listings taken)?

Imagine the benefits to you and your office if your agents enthusiastically jumped on board the SOLD bandwagon...

Closed listings mean money in everyone’s pocket, including yours;

Listing agents will be motivated to do a better job pricing and preparing their listings for sale;

Listing agents will be motivated to do a better job marketing their listings and managing the contract-to-closing period;

Homeowners in your market will notice if your company’s For Sale signs have a steady stream of SOLD sign riders placed atop them;

A higher-than-average closed listings ratio gives you something of substance to differentiate yourself from the competition in your marketing

But most of all, if we, as an industry were to shift our focus to SELLING our listings instead of just GETTING more of them to (try to) sell (or not sell as the case often is), imagine what that would do for the overall perception of our value to the marketplace…

Imagine…

It's Here!

The More Fun You Have Selling Real Estate, the More Real Estate You Will Sell! (True Story)Order Your Here!

The thing agents seem to forget is that they owe their seller their best effort to get the home SOLD, not just get it listed, lol.

And taking a listing you don't think you can sell (or aren't committed to sell) is a terrible disservice to a seller, past client or not.

Posted by Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) about 4 years ago

Some excellent points Jennifer. While I completely agree w/ you that this is the right behavior to measure, there may be a different way to treat newbies vs. those doing for a while.

At the beginning, you really do want to encourage the right behavior...getting more leads, followed by appts, followed by listings. Sometimes newbies just need the practice and need to be incentivized for the right steps. I've been doing this for 7 yrs now, and my focus is quite different vs. Year 1 vs Year 2, but I feel that it was a gradual process of learning who the right leads were/who to focus on, and I'm glad I learned the way I did. (of course, I'm not a realtor so it's slightly different.

My point is only that this makes complete sense for those doing this 3 years or longer, but I also think it's good to encourage the new ones w/ something that is attainable and gradually takes them to the next step.

Happy New Year! A wonderful opportunity for each of us to do the best we possibly can for our clients. I have two caveats that I adhere to in order to best serve sellers: Don't take overpriced listings, and don't discount my commission.

If I have correctly established that they want to sell the house, not just list it, then it must be priced correctly to do so.

If I'm willing to discount my commission in order to get the listing, how can they possibly trust me to negotiate strongly on their behalf to protect their money when we have an offer?